Kind of gives me a new way of thinking after reading that. You're right. I love doing what I do. So why should i let this guy get me flustered when I can just say goodbye. Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated. I'm kinda checking out the site now too and it's pretty cool. There's alot to offer here. I was missing out last year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

Well the beauty of this is you can do what you want, it's your own business. I am kind of on the fence with this one. If there is no way to work with him, I might not call him back either and just move on to other new customers.

This is your business and you should enjoy it. Don't let some bad apple customers take that away from you.

It's kind of interesting that we are talking about this because the other night on the show Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare's he was working at this restaurant during their 're-launch.' Most people were really enjoying the food but there was this one table with these older gals who all were complaining. Oh the steak is too tough, oh I could make a better meal at home.

So they are causing a small scene and the younger restaurant owner/chef walks up front to talk to them and they take this as a chance to feel him out and press the issue. Then they sense he is a bit weak and he tries to slide back towards the kitchen without being committal either way. At a certain point he says 'I gotta get back to the kitchen and kinda shrugs his shoulders.'

Then these women take that as a sign where they can pounce and they moved their upsetness to the front of the restaurant where they start getting a little bit louder so other new patrons can hear them.

Gordon, hears of this from a staff member and walks up to the woman and says what's wrong. And she goes on 'oh I didnt like the food, it tastes like Ragu. I could make it better. And he says 'you are talking out of your rear.' That totally shocked her and she knew at that point she was going to get no more satisfaction with her verbal barbs so she up and left.

I know this is a long post but it's worthwhile. Another story for you is Herb Kelleher, who created Southwest Airlines. Once a woman sent him a letter complaining about something on the flight that Herb felt was ridiculous and he wrote her back something to the effect "We will miss you as a customer."

Here is a section on that I found on another website.

While Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher gives customers a terrific deal on an airplane seat, he makes it clear that his employees come first dash; even if it means dismissing customers. But aren't customers always right? "No, they are not," Kelleher snaps. "And I think that's one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don't carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, 'Fly somebody else. Don't abuse our people.'

An example of Kelleher's putting his philosophy into action is found in Nuts!, a 1996 volume chronicling the success of Southwest Airlines:

Jim Ruppel, director of customer relations, and Sherry Phelps, director of corporate employment, tell the story of a woman who frequently flew on Southwest, but was disappointed with every aspect of the company's operation. In fact, she became known as the "Pen Pal" because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint. She didn't like the fact that the company didn't assign seats; she didn't like the absence of a first-class section; she didn't like not having a meal in flight; she didn't like Southwest's boarding procedure; she didn't like the flight attendants' sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere. And she hated peanuts! Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest's customer relations people. Phelps explains: "Southwest prides itself on answering every letter that comes to the company and several employees tried to respond to this customer, patiently explaining why we do things the way we do them. [Our response] was quickly becoming a [large] volume until they bumped it up to Herb's desk, with a note: 'This one's yours.' In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, 'Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.'